Luc Salem scored his team-leading fourth goal of the year on the penalty kill, while Josh Boyer and Jan Lasak also scored goals, but the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team fell 4-3 to No. 8 Providence on Friday night in Schneider Arena after two third period Friar goals.

St. Lawrence fell to 5-7-0 on the year, while Providence improved to 9-2-3.

"They are a very good team and we were good enough as an entire lineup from top to bottom," said Charles W. Appleton II Head Coach Brent Brekke. "We won't win games against strong opponents when we have passengers and not everyone going. We needed to be better in the hard areas tonight and soft plays cost us goals against and ultimately cost us a win."

For the fourth time this season, the Skating Saints were the first to the scoreboard. After going on the penalty kill for a hitting from behind call, the Saints went on the offensive as Felikss Gavars found himself on a breakaway. The rookie's bid was stopped by Philip Svedebäck with the rebound free. Ty Naaykens was able to get an attempt on goal that was also stopped before Salem buried the puck into the loose net to give St. Lawrence the 1-0 lead.

Salem, who entered the game leading the team in goals, earned his fourth of the year with the tally. The shorthanded goal was the third for the Skating Saints this season.

With just under seven minutes to go in the first period, a mad scramble in front of the Saints' net ended up with the game being tied at 1-1. A Nick Poisson shot wide turned into a scramble when the puck came back to the crease area. Cam McDonald's shot was stopped in the traffic by Emil Zetterquist but Poisson crashed the net and had the puck go off his skate to give the Friars the equalizer.

The Skating Saints nearly scored their first of the second period on a 2-on-1 midway through the second, but kept on the pressure and scored moments later. Lasak and Naaykens pushed the puck up the ice to Boyer, who had to corral a bouncing puck in the slot. The senior swept the puck up and over the shoulder of the goaltender to regain the lead.

Providence was able to once again able to tie up the game with a shot from the point four minutes later. Austen May controlled the possession at the blue line and took a long-range wrist shot. The shot weaved through traffic and past a screened Zetterquist to make it a 2-2 contest.



The Friars tried to take their first lead of the game and nearly did with 4:13 left in the second. A Providence forward had a point-blank look in front of the Saints' net but was stoned cold by Zetterquist.

The Scarlet and Brown got their second special teams goal of the game on the power play from a beautiful passing play. On the man advantage, Philippe Chapleau made a pass to Naaykens at the blueline, who one-timed a shot onto the Friar net. Lasak tipped the puck over the shoulder of Svedebäck to regain the lead at 3-2.

Naaykens recorded his third assist of the game with the helper bringing his season total to four.

The Friars came out of the second intermission buzzing and tied the game up at 3-3 at the 2:05 mark. In a mirror from his first goal, May took a shot through heavy traffic that found twine. Just over two minutes later, Parker Ford took the first lead of the game for Providence.

The Saints did not yield as they continued to attack the Friar goal with ten shots in the third period. Zetterquist also played big down the stretch with huge saves to keep the game in check.

With just over three minutes left, St. Lawrence pulled the goalie to try and tie the game. With 30 seconds left, Cameron Buhl hit the post then moments later a Gavars shot stunned the goaltender. In the fray Reilly Moran swept a puck to the far post but was stoned to keep the Saints off the board.

Zetterquist stopped 34 shots in the St. Lawrence goal, while his fellow countryman Svedebäck had 32 saves.

The Scarlet and Brown went 1-for-2 on the power play and tallied a shorthanded goal, while the Friars went 0-for-2 and were nearly outshot on the man advantage by St. Lawrence.

St. Lawrence will be back in action next weekend as they travel to Quinnipiac on December 2, then take on Princeton the following night to cap off the weekend.